


You Come Along Because I Love Your Face (And You Admire My Expensive Taste)

by overratedantihero



Series: Strange is the Call of This Strange Man [7]
Category: Batman (Comics), Deathstroke the Terminator (Comics), New Teen Titans, Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Abduction, Absconding, As in REALLY non explicit, Cuddling, Drugging, Family Dynamics, M/M, Misunderstanding, Non-Explicit Sex, The Surprise Vacation is Actually Abduction I'm Sorry, surprise vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 18:51:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13794003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overratedantihero/pseuds/overratedantihero
Summary: Dick is abducted for a three day excursion in Tanzania. Dick's family is, understandably, concerned. But Slade's never been very mindful to the family's needs.





	You Come Along Because I Love Your Face (And You Admire My Expensive Taste)

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all asked for the family's perspective and voila! Here's kinda the family's perspective. Sort of. All in vague terms. Enjoy.

Dick woke from sleep as if he’d had to claw his way to the surface through a heady fog. Even as his eyes fluttered open, his body felt weighted and too-warm. But the sheets in which he was wrapped were soft and his pillow smelled sweet so he sighed in contentment and closed his eyes again, succumbing to the intoxicating cocoon of pillows and sheets and the warm, humid breeze sweeping in from an open window. 

Except Gotham wasn’t humid.

Gotham wasn’t even warm this time of year.

Dick’s eyes flung open and he tried to scramble to a sitting position, but he was hit with a wave of vertigo that knocked him back onto the mattress of the unfamiliar bed. Movement to his side motivated him to lash out, swinging a punch even as he slid his legs underneath himself for leverage. The punch connected and Dick blinked as pain reverberated through his fist.

Slade just rolled his eyes, sighed, and set aside the book he was reading. “Are you finished?”

Dick sat back on his haunches, pulling his fist from Slade's shoulder so that he could cradle it against his chest. He looked around the room. The walls were painted a medium toned sand color, and open French doors framed by billowing white curtains let in the tropical breeze that Dick had felt. Otherwise, the décor was sparse except for a coffee table hosting a vase of flowers in the center of the room and a chaise placed off to the side of the massive bed. This was _not_ where Dick had fallen asleep.

“Where’s the penthouse?” Dick whined, shooting Slade an accusatory glare. Slade blinked at Dick as if Dick were a particularly slow child.

“In Gotham,” Slade murmured slowly. “Where it always is.”

Furrowing his brows, Dick amended, “Then, where are _we_? We were in the penthouse, but this is not the penthouse, and this isn’t Gotham either.”

“Tanzania,” Slade answered, as if that were a reasonable reply. Dick hit him with a pillow.

“ _Tanzania_? There’s no fucking way I slept that long, Slade!”

“You didn’t,” Slade offered, moving the pillow from his face. “I slipped you a sedative for the travel here. Fortunately, too, it’s a day’s plane ride and you don’t fare well with boredom.”

Slade saw the next pillow coming, but he gave Dick the pleasure of throwing it at his face anyway. And when Slade removed that pillow, dropping it off the bed and out of reach, Dick straddled his lap to grab the lapels of Slade’s button up.

“You abducted me and drug me to Tanzania? In the middle of the fucking week? I have a job, Slade, I have patrol! There were reasons I wasn’t in Bludhaven!”

Per usual, Slade was impassive. “I promised I’d take you to Tanzania. You weren’t eager to solidify our plans, so I did it on your behalf. Gotham will continue to stand in your absence, and you don't have a job, you're a volunteer. Your absence will be accommodated.”

Dick’s shoulders slumped and his grip on Slade’s shirt relaxed.

“If you’re here for a contract, I will stop you,” Dick warned. Slade shook his head.

“No contract. All that I’ve arranged is to have your former Renegade costume adjusted. We’ll be hunting poachers, as promised.”

Dick bit his lower lip. “And we’ll go look at elephants?”

Slade nodded. “You can look at as many elephants you want.”

“The bugs, in the penthouse,” Dick added. “Bruce will know where we are. How crowded is this…this wherever we are- in case it comes to that?” Dick didn’t specify what “that” was, but the meaning was clear nonetheless.

“The resort is vacant, I reserved it in its entirety.”

Dick paused before releasing the wrinkled shirt and slumping against Slade. His head rested on Slade’s shoulder and his legs, still bare—it looked as if Slade scooped Dick from the penthouse and deposited him in a foreign country without so much as dressing Dick properly—pressed tight against Slade’s thighs. Slade slide his hand underneath Dick’s t-shirt to press it against his mid-back.

“You shouldn’t abduct people, it’s rude,” Dick muttered.

“Okay,” Slade replied.

“How long do we have the resort for?” Dick added.

“Three days.”

Dick sighed. “I think I need a shower.”

Slade obligingly picked him up and carried him to the bathroom.

* * *

 

Jason retired to his own apartment the morning after Bruce’s paranoia actually paid off in the form of audio recordings of Dick galivanting with a hyper-violent mercenary. Made worse by the fact that Dick clearly discovered and destroyed the bugs, cutting the signal and leaving the remainder of the night one, big, neon suggestion. But although it was an obscenely entertaining thought, Jason had no interest in witnessing that knock-down-drag-out fight.

No, Jason didn’t have an interest in that conversation or anything to do with that conversation. He spent enough time as Robin settled between those two as they hurled caustic insults back and forth, he wasn’t going to do it again. Jason didn’t have an interest even after Duke, Tim, Damian, and Cass all texted him one after the other regarding a family emergency. Jason put his phone on silent. Dickiebird and Bruce’s arguments did not constitute an emergency.

But, while Jason was reading in his living room that evening, the Demon Spawn tore apart Jason’s new security system so that he could crawl into Jason’s apartment and demand his audience. That caught Jason’s attention, and he caught the kid before Damian could get all the way through his window.

“Damian, chill the fuck out,” Jason said, when he had Robin by his collar. “Those two fight and then they get over it. It’s not a thing, don’t drag me into it!”

Damian scowled and wiggled, caught in the window as he was. “It’s not that, you insufferable failure. Grayson’s _missing_. He wasn’t in the penthouse this morning and…” Damian bit his lip and actually looked like a child for once, “he missed my parent-teacher conference this afternoon. He always attends.”

Jason gave him a funny look. “Okay? Something probably came up, that doesn’t mean he’s missing.”

“Father thinks Wilson took him,” Damian said, words coming out fast and quick, unlike the usually collected child. Jason raised his eyebrows.

“Whatever Slade and Dick have going on sounded pretty consensual to me,” Jason said, shrugging. “Dick’s an adult. He can make his own bad decisions. It’s about time he embarrassed the family for a spell.”

Damian gave him a withering glare before grinding out, “Father found sedatives. In the penthouse. At least traces of them.”

Jason’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh shit. Slade may have abducted Big Bird. You don’t think… trafficking? I mean, he’s taken Dick before, but if Bruce didn’t receive a ransom notice or anything….”

“It doesn’t matter, we have to find him,” Damian hissed. “Dick has been deceived, and we’re going to save him before his foolish choice of company sees him dead.”

* * *

 

Slade was right. Tanzania _was_ beautiful. And because they had three days, Dick didn’t feel guilty about spending the first on the coast, occasionally tangling with the tide, but mostly enjoying the warm sand. Dick could tell Slade was itching for the hunt he’d been promised, but if he was impatient he didn’t say anything to Dick. Still, Dick caught Slade fidgeting and the fact that Slade humored Dick's desire to splash on the coast before their hunting excursion made Dick's heart twist. Slade's displays of affection were complicated and inconvenient, but Slade was nevertheless affectionate. And it's not as if Dick weren't used to experiencing strange and invasive gestures of love out of the men for whom he cared. 

Slade eventually retreated higher on the beach to lounge on a chair beneath an umbrella and watch as Dick rolled in the sand and rinsed in the ocean. When Dick insisted on sunbathing, Slade obliged him that too, even offering to apply Dick’s sunscreen, which Dick quickly realized was an excuse to escalate contact, which ended with an enjoyable but regrettably sandy tryst.

By late afternoon, Dick was curled up on a towel on the sand, napping in the sun. What skin he had bared was already bronzing after only half a day. Slade would be lying if he claimed he dragged Dick here for anything more than selfish purposes, but he did enjoy seeing Dick so relaxed and pliant.

Slade’s phone vibrated and Slade frowned before answering, “Wintergreen.”

“Slade. I would be remiss if I didn’t warn you that Batman has found traces of the sedative you used in the poor decision that I warned you against. And with the recordings he obtained before you destroyed his devices, he has a lead as to where you are. Do you need me to intervene?”

Slade looked at Dick, sleeping with his mouth slightly ajar and his knees curled to his chest.

“Let him come, Billy. Tanzania is large enough, and our stay will be short. Also,” Slade added, before Wintergreen could hang up, “since you needed to comment, I’ll have you know he enjoyed himself after the initial surprise.”

“You’re treating that boy like a plaything. You’re playing a dangerous game with Batman, Slade,” Wintergreen warned. Slade grunted a goodbye and hung up before Dick could wake and see. 

Sure enough, Dick tossed in his sleep, as he was wont to do, and managed to slide off the towel and into the sun-heated sand, which startled him awake. Dick glanced around drowsily. To Slade, Dick appeared all the world like a confused bird who’d found itself too far from its nest. Then Dick rested his eyes on Slade and he scrambled up, brushing the sand away, to come curl up in Slade’s lap. A new perch, for the little bird.

Let the Bat come, Slade thought again. Dick was far too entertaining to return quite yet.

* * *

 

“I did as you and Damian requested,” Starfire said, alighting on the nearest shipping container. Jason looked up at her from where he leaned against his motorcycle. He frowned when he caught her expression against the fiery glow of her hair.

“You don’t look happy,” Jason noted, standing up. “What did you find?”

“I found an invasion of privacy that I never would have humored except that I was led to believe Dick’s life in danger,” Starfire retorted, crossing her arms. “I dislike Deathstroke, but I trust Dick. You should too.”

Jason scoffed and crossed his arms too. “You don’t dislike him, Kor, you’ve tried to kill him before. You hate Deathstroke. He’s an ass and his code doesn’t mean shit. Dick’s too invested in him to be trusted, so what did you see?”

Despite their terse conversation, a dreamy look passed Starfire’s face as she relaxed her stance. “Dick resting,” she cooed. “He is so beautiful, and I love when he sleeps. He has earned rest, Jason. Let him be.”

“He’s resting with a mercenary,” Jason shot back. “You’re going to see him killed.”

Starfire frowned and her hair flared into a concentrated inferno. “I’d sooner see the world burn,” she hissed. Her eyes softened and she murmured, “You’ve earned rest too, Jason. We could always go to Florida.”

Jason looked down to hide his smile. “Not today, Kori. Family business and all.”

Starfire shrugged. “Your choice,” she said before leaving him, hair trailing behind her in a stream of fire.

Damian poked his head from behind a separate shipping container. “And that is why I am the leader of the Teen Titans,” Damian hissed. “We will go retrieve Grayson at once.”

Jason shook his head. “No. We’ll leave him.”

“But Father—”

“I know what Bruce found. But if Kori says he’s not in any danger, I believe her. She would never leave him if she thought he needed help. We’ll tell Bruce that Kori couldn’t find anything on the coast or in the islands. Buy Dick some time.”

Damian huffed. Then scoffed. And then slumped a bit. “What if we’re wrong?” Damian asked, a slight tremble to his voice.

“Then Dick can handle himself,” Jason assured him. “He always has before. And Dick has tangled with Slade plenty.”

After he said it, Jason realized he probably should have phrased that differently. The look of disgust on Damian’s face confirmed it. Desperate to salvage the moment, Jason cleared his throat.

“Anyway. Big Bird will come home when he’s ready. He always does.”


End file.
